It's up to us as individuals to decide what information source to frequent, analyze the information, and form our own opinions. I sift through what is presented, check statements that are questionable (Snopes does a good job and Google helps too) and render my own judgement. Then I watch The Colbert Report to help me put it all into perspective. 🤣
Agree! Peter Baker from NYT only NOW gives Biden a fair shake. What a disappointment. He could have helped democracy. But that wasn’t important enough, I guess.
Yes, and Trump will take credit for all of it. The NYT really didn't do its job in discussing the stakes of the election. I'm really unhappy with their reporting in 2024. They did not give Biden his due. It's too late now that we have deeply incompetent grifters coming into power.
Peter Baker... why werent you reporting this in October when it might have made a difference? It was just as true then as it is now. Cowards.
Peter Baker was interviewed in the Bullwark back during the campaign and admitted he doesn't vote because that impacts his impartiality. I lost respect for Peter Baker that day. He's part of the problem, not the solution.
Why weren’t Peter Baker and his colleagues at the New York Times reporting this earlier? The answer, judging by their consistent headlines, hit pieces and other editorial choices, is that A.G. Sulzberger preferred to see Donald Trump elected.
In 2016, the NYT’s monomanic focus on “But her emails” sank HIllary. Now Sulzberger, Bezos, Murdoch, Musk and others have played a key role in once again inflicting Trump upon America and the world. Shame on them!
Joe, it’s been many years since my wife and I cancelled our subscription to the New York Times. More than a decade ago, we started hand-picking good writers and alternative news sources that were worth following and supporting.
The creation of BlueSky and Mastodon are indeed very encouraging new developments!
I don’t do social media myself, unless you consider Hopium and a now-defunct live chess site to be social media. Realizing on Day One what a brilliant data-mining operation Mark Zuckerberg had launched, I never did join Facebook.
There is a great workaround to access the content of Musk’s Xitter, without having to sign up. I have, for instance, used it to follow reliable on-the-ground reporting on the Russo-Ukrainian war. Here it is; just append their Xitter handle.
Yes - - I've done the same (unsubscibed - -and to WaPo, LATimes etc). And am reading, promoting, supporting independent media. We all should be doing that!
Infected with bothaidesism, Peter Baker and the New York Times only obliquely referred to the strength of the Biden economy before the election, and even then it was cabined before and after by Trump lies. The strength of the economy under Democrats is about as surprising to most of us as Trump walking back his promise to lower the cost of groceries when he takes office.
Simon is spot on about Elon, and it’s unfortunate that President Biden has been silent about Elon undermining democracy and interfering with European elections.
I've also spoken with friends and family members who are upset that President Biden and the first lady have remained silent about the Iraqi Government being on the verge of allowing girls as young as nine years old to marry. That is sickening and our elected leaders cannot remain silent!
I thank this community and Simon for everything we are doing to lay the groundwork going forward. Lets go!
Excellent article from Robert Kuttner, underscoring how vitally important it is that term appointees remain at their posts! (Did anyone already mention this?)
"Appointments that are not coterminous with the presidency are one of our important checks and balances, especially against a would-be dictator like Trump. Most key regulatory commissions, by long-standing statutory law, have term appointees, though in many cases the president gets to appoint or designate the chairman."
I suppose it might be better late than never. We can spread this through our media networks. Nonetheless, where was this firm assessment before the election? Nowhere in the NYTimes. It’s not nothing. And it’s also weak tea, much too little too late. Leaves me rather pissed off. I’m being polite at the moment.
Hi Joe. I don't advocate for waiting and haven't waited myself. I already look to other media sources besides legacy media. Pro Publica, Reveal, MeidasTouch, Hopium, Tim Snyder, Heather Cox Richardson, Courier Newsroom, Resolute Square... the list goes on. I would not be surprised if Baker had this article tee'd up before the election and the Times then sat on it. I'll/We'll likely never know, and who cares @ this point. Still, the acknowledgement, the counter messaging and most of all the amplification of Biden's extraordinary record and accomplishments deserve to be repeated everywhere and anywhere, early, often, and loudly. I don't think it is pointless that the Times has finally printed the truth of Biden's record. It's lame because it is way late and so many of us have cut bait and moved on from them. But not pointless.
For me it's not better late. We don't need Peter Baker being all truthful now that he and the Times/maga got trump elected. Unsubscribe! Support independent media!
Hi Alexandra. Sorry for the cut and paste from another reply I made:
I already look to other media sources besides legacy media. Pro Publica, Reveal, MeidasTouch, Hopium, Tim Snyder, Heather Cox Richardson, Courier Newsroom, Resolute Square... the list goes on. Another thought- I would not be surprised if Baker had this article tee'd up before the election and the Times then sat on it. I'll/We'll likely never know, and who cares @ this point. Still, the acknowledgement, the counter messaging and most of all the amplification of Biden's extraordinary record and accomplishments deserve to be repeated everywhere and anywhere, early, often, and loudly. I don't think it is pointless that the Times has finally printed the truth about the impact of Biden's record. It's lame because NYT is way late and so many of us have cut bait and moved on from them. But not pointless.
I wish that Simon's screenshots of BlueSky posts somehow had links to those posts.
Now I have to exert my short-term memory to 1) open a new tab 2) visit BlueSky (bsky.app), 3) find the post (what was its name?) and 4) then, and only then, assess whether to follow that possibly interesting account.
Too much to do to do that much work just to take a look at... something that will give me *more* things to do.
and as something uplifting to do instead of watching the inauguration. I hope Habitat for Humanity is doing something in my area. It would be a great way to honor President Carter as well.
ALARMING WORDS from Speaker Mike Johnson about the key role Stephen Miller is and will be playing. (Spoken in secret at the GOP retreat at Fort McNair:)
“We asked everyone not to leak. Please for god’s sake do not give inside information to the enemy.
“I want to compliment the Trump administration and the team. They’ve worked so well with us. We’re in daily contact with the president himself and his lieutenants. Stephen Miller is the leader of this team and does a great job. He’s going to be wearing a lot of important hats.”
I think a healthy discussion should be why don't people feel happy if everything is as good as you say it is. The way I look at it, is that people are generally unhappy and they told us this by either not voting or voting in sufficient numbers for a man who is a racist, rapist and fomented an insurrection. People have to be pretty unhappy for this to be the result. So you can't just message " you should be happy" we need to figure out why they are so unhappy in the first place. It is not because Trump told them they should be unhappy. At least I do not believe that is the case.
Susan, a few thoughts here. 1) It is not as "good as I say it is." Data is data, and things are far better today. The data is clear as day. 2) Happiness is not the issue. We are talking about people understanding the reality of the world they live in to make decisions about happiness, etc. The understanding that things were worse is false and wrong, shaped by their info superiority and our failures. 3) There is lots and lots of data that I have shared here that people are in fact happier with their lives, work, wages than ever before. All of this is why I think we need to big discussion about what happened here. It is not simple or easy to understand, but my own view is that as a family we have utterly failed to tell our story properly over many years now and it it is a serious, serious problem.
Agree, but I also think it's necessary to acknowledge that we're swimming upstream with regard to legacy media, which has, for decades, adopted Republican framing and told stories from the Fox point of view. Over time, I expect legacy media to play a less and less important role and new media, people like Tara McGowan, Medias Touch, etc. to play a larger role. But they need a story to tell and they need framing to provide. One of my favorite New Yorker cartoons shows a guy with a hot dog cart, but the cart is labeled "Content." What information like "With Democrats Things Get Better" does is provide that crucial "Content" that we, and new media, can share.
Good points, Simon. I just don’t understand what we’re supposed to do when a big chunk of the country is almost literally hypnotized by a cult leader and propaganda from multiple sources.
While the MSM's sanewashing and bothsidersism are regrettable, I think we should not lose sight of the fact that the far, far greater problem and negative influence on many voters is the continuous lies and distortions of Pox News and other RW media. That is the only "news" many people consume, and they have no interest in researching issues and absorbing data, evidence and considering other viewpoints. They vote based on emotions and slogans, and that is all they are willing or able to do. As long as we have a free press that means half of the press is free to lie unabashedly, this problem will persist.
Perhaps the contrast between the "vibe economy" and "the real economy" can be illustrated by a story.
Some years ago, an acquaintance told me about a stunt he and his colleagues pulled against their boss. In the course of the morning, more than half a dozen people said to the boss "Are you feeling ok?", "Gee, you don’t look too well." "Are you coming down with something, boss?" "You look like you should be at home, in bed."
By lunchtime, their boss had gone home to deal with whatever was "ailing" him!
This is precisely what the very loud right-wing ecosphere, along with the click- and view-seeking mainstream media, have been doing for four years: telling us that "Gee, the economy looks pretty bleak – and Americans are struggling."
By comparison, there has been close to a deafening silence on the great accomplishments of the Biden Administration.
You want further proof of the disconnect between the "vibe economy" and "the real economy"? Immediately after the election, surveys showed that Republicans suddenly were far happier with the economy and far more of them thought it was good! (If you need links, I can dig them up.)
And studies decades ago showed that when teachers were told a class was full of gifted kids, well, the kids all suddenly became gifted. The opposite was also true.
Funny how the Times is only bringing this up now… I thought Biden’s age was the only thing that mattered to the media.
Exactly. Too little, far too late. I'm still not subscribing to NYT.
Exactly. They should have done this during THE ELECTION when it would have made a BIG difference.
The New York Times Editorial board supported Kamala Harris for President. Here is the endorsement. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/30/opinion/editorials/kamala-harris-2024-endorsement.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nE4.6YFQ.eHRDEbdngba_&smid=url-share There were many other articles about Biden's accomplishments. For example:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/20/upshot/biden-budget-before-after-animation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nE4.fEiM.qrcEUI3xuKje&smid=url-share
Still not good enough - especially considering the way news stories were framed, the false equivalence, etc. Check with Paul Krugman on how it continues. https://substack.com/@paulkrugman/note/p-154171949?r=4bv4c&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
It's up to us as individuals to decide what information source to frequent, analyze the information, and form our own opinions. I sift through what is presented, check statements that are questionable (Snopes does a good job and Google helps too) and render my own judgement. Then I watch The Colbert Report to help me put it all into perspective. 🤣
Agree! Peter Baker from NYT only NOW gives Biden a fair shake. What a disappointment. He could have helped democracy. But that wasn’t important enough, I guess.
I felt disappointed with his presentations on PBS NewsHour as well.
Yes, and Trump will take credit for all of it. The NYT really didn't do its job in discussing the stakes of the election. I'm really unhappy with their reporting in 2024. They did not give Biden his due. It's too late now that we have deeply incompetent grifters coming into power.
Peter Baker... why werent you reporting this in October when it might have made a difference? It was just as true then as it is now. Cowards.
Peter Baker was interviewed in the Bullwark back during the campaign and admitted he doesn't vote because that impacts his impartiality. I lost respect for Peter Baker that day. He's part of the problem, not the solution.
Why weren’t Peter Baker and his colleagues at the New York Times reporting this earlier? The answer, judging by their consistent headlines, hit pieces and other editorial choices, is that A.G. Sulzberger preferred to see Donald Trump elected.
In 2016, the NYT’s monomanic focus on “But her emails” sank HIllary. Now Sulzberger, Bezos, Murdoch, Musk and others have played a key role in once again inflicting Trump upon America and the world. Shame on them!
Joe, it’s been many years since my wife and I cancelled our subscription to the New York Times. More than a decade ago, we started hand-picking good writers and alternative news sources that were worth following and supporting.
The creation of BlueSky and Mastodon are indeed very encouraging new developments!
I don’t do social media myself, unless you consider Hopium and a now-defunct live chess site to be social media. Realizing on Day One what a brilliant data-mining operation Mark Zuckerberg had launched, I never did join Facebook.
There is a great workaround to access the content of Musk’s Xitter, without having to sign up. I have, for instance, used it to follow reliable on-the-ground reporting on the Russo-Ukrainian war. Here it is; just append their Xitter handle.
https://nitter.poast.org/
Yes - - I've done the same (unsubscibed - -and to WaPo, LATimes etc). And am reading, promoting, supporting independent media. We all should be doing that!
Infected with bothaidesism, Peter Baker and the New York Times only obliquely referred to the strength of the Biden economy before the election, and even then it was cabined before and after by Trump lies. The strength of the economy under Democrats is about as surprising to most of us as Trump walking back his promise to lower the cost of groceries when he takes office.
Even Paul Krugman called out the NYT for bothsidesing another recent article: https://open.substack.com/pub/paulkrugman/p/bothsidesing-with-a-republican-slant?r=9qnza&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true. Thank goodness he retired so he can tell us what he actually thinks about NYT’s political coverage.
Simon is spot on about Elon, and it’s unfortunate that President Biden has been silent about Elon undermining democracy and interfering with European elections.
I've also spoken with friends and family members who are upset that President Biden and the first lady have remained silent about the Iraqi Government being on the verge of allowing girls as young as nine years old to marry. That is sickening and our elected leaders cannot remain silent!
I thank this community and Simon for everything we are doing to lay the groundwork going forward. Lets go!
Excellent article from Robert Kuttner, underscoring how vitally important it is that term appointees remain at their posts! (Did anyone already mention this?)
https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-01-03-memo-to-term-appointees-stay-put/
"Appointments that are not coterminous with the presidency are one of our important checks and balances, especially against a would-be dictator like Trump. Most key regulatory commissions, by long-standing statutory law, have term appointees, though in many cases the president gets to appoint or designate the chairman."
I suppose it might be better late than never. We can spread this through our media networks. Nonetheless, where was this firm assessment before the election? Nowhere in the NYTimes. It’s not nothing. And it’s also weak tea, much too little too late. Leaves me rather pissed off. I’m being polite at the moment.
Hi Joe. I don't advocate for waiting and haven't waited myself. I already look to other media sources besides legacy media. Pro Publica, Reveal, MeidasTouch, Hopium, Tim Snyder, Heather Cox Richardson, Courier Newsroom, Resolute Square... the list goes on. I would not be surprised if Baker had this article tee'd up before the election and the Times then sat on it. I'll/We'll likely never know, and who cares @ this point. Still, the acknowledgement, the counter messaging and most of all the amplification of Biden's extraordinary record and accomplishments deserve to be repeated everywhere and anywhere, early, often, and loudly. I don't think it is pointless that the Times has finally printed the truth of Biden's record. It's lame because it is way late and so many of us have cut bait and moved on from them. But not pointless.
For me it's not better late. We don't need Peter Baker being all truthful now that he and the Times/maga got trump elected. Unsubscribe! Support independent media!
Hi Alexandra. Sorry for the cut and paste from another reply I made:
I already look to other media sources besides legacy media. Pro Publica, Reveal, MeidasTouch, Hopium, Tim Snyder, Heather Cox Richardson, Courier Newsroom, Resolute Square... the list goes on. Another thought- I would not be surprised if Baker had this article tee'd up before the election and the Times then sat on it. I'll/We'll likely never know, and who cares @ this point. Still, the acknowledgement, the counter messaging and most of all the amplification of Biden's extraordinary record and accomplishments deserve to be repeated everywhere and anywhere, early, often, and loudly. I don't think it is pointless that the Times has finally printed the truth about the impact of Biden's record. It's lame because NYT is way late and so many of us have cut bait and moved on from them. But not pointless.
I don't do proud these days, but I am glad I am here on Substack and happy to be with you defending our democracy! Thanks for sending us this.
I wish that Simon's screenshots of BlueSky posts somehow had links to those posts.
Now I have to exert my short-term memory to 1) open a new tab 2) visit BlueSky (bsky.app), 3) find the post (what was its name?) and 4) then, and only then, assess whether to follow that possibly interesting account.
Too much to do to do that much work just to take a look at... something that will give me *more* things to do.
I have been looking for volunteer work to do on Jan 20, both to uphold the MLK Day of Service
and as something uplifting to do instead of watching the inauguration. I hope Habitat for Humanity is doing something in my area. It would be a great way to honor President Carter as well.
Virginia will have elections THIS year for Governor, Lt. Governor, Att'y General, and lots of other positions. Postcards4VA is a great source.
ALARMING WORDS from Speaker Mike Johnson about the key role Stephen Miller is and will be playing. (Spoken in secret at the GOP retreat at Fort McNair:)
“We asked everyone not to leak. Please for god’s sake do not give inside information to the enemy.
“I want to compliment the Trump administration and the team. They’ve worked so well with us. We’re in daily contact with the president himself and his lieutenants. Stephen Miller is the leader of this team and does a great job. He’s going to be wearing a lot of important hats.”
https://nitter.poast.org/JakeSherman/status/1875630335851135231#m
I think a healthy discussion should be why don't people feel happy if everything is as good as you say it is. The way I look at it, is that people are generally unhappy and they told us this by either not voting or voting in sufficient numbers for a man who is a racist, rapist and fomented an insurrection. People have to be pretty unhappy for this to be the result. So you can't just message " you should be happy" we need to figure out why they are so unhappy in the first place. It is not because Trump told them they should be unhappy. At least I do not believe that is the case.
Susan, a few thoughts here. 1) It is not as "good as I say it is." Data is data, and things are far better today. The data is clear as day. 2) Happiness is not the issue. We are talking about people understanding the reality of the world they live in to make decisions about happiness, etc. The understanding that things were worse is false and wrong, shaped by their info superiority and our failures. 3) There is lots and lots of data that I have shared here that people are in fact happier with their lives, work, wages than ever before. All of this is why I think we need to big discussion about what happened here. It is not simple or easy to understand, but my own view is that as a family we have utterly failed to tell our story properly over many years now and it it is a serious, serious problem.
Agree, but I also think it's necessary to acknowledge that we're swimming upstream with regard to legacy media, which has, for decades, adopted Republican framing and told stories from the Fox point of view. Over time, I expect legacy media to play a less and less important role and new media, people like Tara McGowan, Medias Touch, etc. to play a larger role. But they need a story to tell and they need framing to provide. One of my favorite New Yorker cartoons shows a guy with a hot dog cart, but the cart is labeled "Content." What information like "With Democrats Things Get Better" does is provide that crucial "Content" that we, and new media, can share.
Good points, Simon. I just don’t understand what we’re supposed to do when a big chunk of the country is almost literally hypnotized by a cult leader and propaganda from multiple sources.
While the MSM's sanewashing and bothsidersism are regrettable, I think we should not lose sight of the fact that the far, far greater problem and negative influence on many voters is the continuous lies and distortions of Pox News and other RW media. That is the only "news" many people consume, and they have no interest in researching issues and absorbing data, evidence and considering other viewpoints. They vote based on emotions and slogans, and that is all they are willing or able to do. As long as we have a free press that means half of the press is free to lie unabashedly, this problem will persist.
How nice it would have been had this been written before the election.
Perhaps the contrast between the "vibe economy" and "the real economy" can be illustrated by a story.
Some years ago, an acquaintance told me about a stunt he and his colleagues pulled against their boss. In the course of the morning, more than half a dozen people said to the boss "Are you feeling ok?", "Gee, you don’t look too well." "Are you coming down with something, boss?" "You look like you should be at home, in bed."
By lunchtime, their boss had gone home to deal with whatever was "ailing" him!
This is precisely what the very loud right-wing ecosphere, along with the click- and view-seeking mainstream media, have been doing for four years: telling us that "Gee, the economy looks pretty bleak – and Americans are struggling."
By comparison, there has been close to a deafening silence on the great accomplishments of the Biden Administration.
You want further proof of the disconnect between the "vibe economy" and "the real economy"? Immediately after the election, surveys showed that Republicans suddenly were far happier with the economy and far more of them thought it was good! (If you need links, I can dig them up.)
It's almost as if the Republicans had learned how to amplify their side's framing.
And studies decades ago showed that when teachers were told a class was full of gifted kids, well, the kids all suddenly became gifted. The opposite was also true.
The power of suggestion...
Democrats, cleaning up Republican messes for the last 80 years
This should be on a billboard!
Peter Baker is an idiot!!!